Why Hamilton should keep his options open

A possible opportunity for Lewis Hamilton in 2013 closed when Mark Webber renewed his contract with Red Bull. Now the Briton must ponder his options. Jonathan Noble wonders whether he should instead keep them open for this time next year

When Lewis Hamilton produced those back-to-back pole positions in the first two races of this season, there were few at the time who could not imagine a scenario of it being a case of onwards and upwards for himself and his McLaren team as they kicked off the year exactly the way they had intended.

All throughout the winter the team and its drivers had said that if they could start the season with the strongest car, then its traditional impressive rate of development would be more than enough to help them keep – if not open up – their advantage over the rest of the field.